Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ive always wondered why you rarely see spectacled cobras (naja naja) for sale. they are always portrayed as very "common" snakes in the wild. they seem very similar to monocled cobras but you see far more monocleds for sale than spectacleds. does anyone know a reason for this?
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Unless I'm terribly mistaken, the main reason for the predominance of N. kaouthia in captivity over N. naja is because they can still be imported, whereas N. naja are now protected in their range and cannot be imported. If you'll notice, despite the abundance of cbb kaouthia around, there are still many imported into this country annually. An additional factor that helps add to this is the common occurance of the albino kaouthia morph, which only helps to further their popularity among hobbyists. Having kept a few representations from both species, I can fairly safely say that the two are practically identical in care and upkeep so it doesn't seem to be anything involved with that. I would imagine that if an albino N. naja popped up, and then became practically as affordable as the normal variety, they would gain much ground against N. kaouthia.
-----
Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

so does that mean that the locale known as the Black Pakistan Cobra is not protected? ive been noticing a lot of these for sale in the classifieds and technically they are a locale of the spectacled cobra so shouldnt they be protected too?
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

i know the indian spectacled cobra is protected because of the countries beliefs behind naja naja. That is, from what i understand, to be the reason behind the protection of n. naja. This snake is also the constant favorite among snake charmers and end up taking alot of abuse becuase of it.